Anil Menon: Indian-Origin NASA Astronaut Set for His First 8-Month ISS Mission

Indian-origin NASA astronaut Anil Menon is set to launch on his first spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on July 14. He will lift off aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, alongside Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina. The mission, lasting around eight months, will see the crew take part in Expeditions 74 and 75 before returning to Earth in April 2027.

About Anil Menon, Indian-Origin NASA Astronaut

1. Born in Minneapolis to Indian and Ukrainian immigrant parents, Menon is a trained emergency medicine physician and a colonel in the US Space Force. 
2. He earlier served in the US Air Force, deploying to Afghanistan, and has volunteered with the Himalayan Rescue Association on Mount Everest. 
3. He spent a year in India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar studying polio immunisation. 
4. Menon joined NASA as a flight surgeon in 2014, later worked at SpaceX on its medical program and Starship development, and was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in December 2021.

What Will Menon Do During the 8-Month ISS Mission?

Menon will research how microgravity affects blood flow, vein structure, and the human body over long-duration spaceflight. He will also test technology to produce IV fluids from the station's water system, advance in-space semiconductor crystal manufacturing, and carry out AI/AR-assisted ultrasound studies to support future deep-space missions.

What is the 8-Month ISS Mission?

The International Space Station (ISS) functions as a shared microgravity research laboratory in low Earth orbit, at an altitude of roughly 250 miles. It is jointly run by five space agencies — NASA (USA), Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada) — enabling continuous scientific research and international cooperation in space.

Source  - The Hindu